Last year the Johnston High School varsity football team pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the 2014 season by beating the previously unbeaten No. 1 seed Saint Raphael Saints at Pariseau Field. The Panthers had finished the regular season with a 3-4 record and made the most of their opportunity in the playoffs because Tolman was banned from the Division II postseason. Johnston went on to give the eventual Division II Super Bowl champion Moses Brown Quakers a scare in the semifinal playoff game, as it had leads of 7-0 and 14-7 in the first half before the Quakers woke up in the second half, eliminating the Panthers from the playoffs.
But that was last year. The Panthers graduated 17 players from last year’s squad and are now looking ahead to the 2015 season as it rapidly approaches.
“It’s a whole new team with a whole new group of kids,” said Johnston head coach Joe Acciardo. “We definitely have some holes to fill this year.”
One of those 17 players who graduated last year was Marc Conte, whose shoes will be hard to fill. Conte was a Second Team All-State linebacker as well as the team’s leading runner. Senior Tyler Nasisi will now be relied upon to do the bulk of the work in the backfield.
“You don’t really replace a guy like Marc Conte, but you get other guys that are great in their own way,” said Acciardo. “Tyler Nasisi has been filling in at halfback and is a different style of runner than Conte, he is doing a great job and we have no complaints. Nasisi is a small and quick guy while Conte was a big and fast guy and he is getting the job done, we are really happy with his work.”
Other players that will be competing for time in the backfield are seniors Joe Turchetta, Matthew Fontes and Jonathan Soto. Elijah Burgess has shown some promise and looks to be in the mix for time in the backfield as well. Junior Kyle Nelson will be the team’s starting quarterback this year. He is a first year varsity player and is also a team captain, as are Turchetta, Gian Paola and Raymond Saleh.
The offensive line seems to be coming together for the Panthers. “The offensive line is doing very well,” Acciardo said. “We moved some guys around and are trying to put the pieces in the puzzle. You don’t really get a good look at players until scrimmages and games. We took away some good and some bad things from scrimmages with South Kingstown, Lincoln, Burrillville and Cumberland.”
Another player that Acciardo spoke highly of is Nassir Vasquez, who the coaches think could make an impact on the team thanks to his great speed and agility.
On the other side of the ball, the defense is also starting to come together. Carson Kenny, John Bucci, Paola, Saleh and Wayne Thimas have solidified the defensive line.
“We have a lot of young guys stepping up,” said defensive coach Anthony DeMarco. “It’s been an evaluation process the whole summer and we are starting to get a good feel who is going to be out there. Normally, you come into a year and know who is going to be where but this was a blank slate, we had no idea. They are all working hard and are a good group of kids. They are willing to learn, that’s all we can ask. We are going to be a competitive team this year and Friday night will be the first big test.”
A big loss on the sidelines this past offseason was long time assistant coach Matt Mancuso, who is now the head coach at Exeter-West Greenwich. Another coach, Bruce Mastracchio, retired this past year after coaching high school football for over 45 years. Brian Iafrate, a JHS Hall of Fame football player, was added to the coaching staff. He has coached in the Johnston Youth Football League for many years and knows the players very well.
“Brian is doing a hell of a job for us,” DeMarco stated.
The 2015 season gets underway at 5:30 p.m. on Friday night at North Smithfield High School in the first of three Injury Fund games. Johnston will face the defending Division IV Super Bowl champion Burrillville Broncos, who went undefeated last year. The games will only be two quarters in length, but it will act as an audition for many of the players as they fight for starting positions.
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